Lisbon - Belém

After a good night's sleep at the Feels Like Home Rossio Prime Suites we were ready for a new day.  But first a word on Feels Like Home. It is something of a boutique hotel, a very modern hotel in a very old building, fresh cake available all day in the lounge, all modern facilities, great breakfast and friendly staff. Home isn't  quite like this though, we don't  have monogrammed bath robes, pillow cases or bath mats!
I really like juxtaposed things, like jeans hanging on the line outside the window of a 600 year old house. Sadly the juxtaposion here is the view from the window into the plaça - lots of homeless sleeping in cardboard boxes.

This hotel is located on floors two, three and four and doesn't  have a lift. 

This is the mountain view when we enter the front door.

Lisbon didn't  get off to a good start as we couldn't  locate ourselves, find street signs or find the places we wanted on the map. Eventually we came across the Santa Justa Lift and went up for a great view over the city. On descending we found an Info booth and asked how to get to Belém. The tram was too crowded and the trip long but we survived.

Belém has many World Heritage sites and was way too crowded, much busier than anywhere we went in Spain. We have Lisboa Cards which give us 'free' entry into sites, transport and other things so we did all we could fit in. (Read: long queues everywhere).

The Museum of Coaches was a pleasant surprise with a grand room with many very elegant horse drawn coaches, all hand painted and gilded and beautifully carved. The building had been purpose built for equestrian games and was highly decorated. Next door was a great little museum of horse drawn fire fighting equipment.

A little later we passed the famous Pastéis de Belém, a cake shop which has been selling their 'pastel de Nato' since 1837. The queues were huge! Later in the day we joined the queue and bought one of these delicious custard tarts each.

The construction of Jerónimos Monastery  began in 1501and was financed by the great wealth brought back from India. After a very long wait in the queue we were able to look at the double cloister and various displays around the upper level. The refectory had some excellent old tile work and the chapel has a bold ribbed dome which makes it notable.

The modern memorial to five hundred years of Portuguese achievement called the Monument to the Discoveries, sits on the bank of the river Taga. Kel went up but I decided not to climb, only to discover he went by lift.

Another long queue for the Belém Tower. The tower has served as a fortress, a prison, a lighthouse.

The long bus ride home was even more crowded and unpleasant. We got off early and walked the last bit, glad to be able to move and breathe fresh air. We walked under the Arch of Augusta and discovered a wine tasting promotion. That sparked up one of us, especially when he was sold a very cold bottle of white wine for €2.30.

Grilled sardines for dinner.